Roman Britain

Roman Britain was a province of the Roman Empire which existed from 43 to 410 AD, comprising almost the whole of England and Wales, as well as southern Scotland. The Roman general Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC during the Gallic Wars, as the Celts had conquered the Britons and aided Caesar's enemies in Gaul. Caesar installed Mandubracius as king of the Trinovantes before returning to Gaul, and Britain would remain unconquered for nearly a century. Augustus called off planned invasions in 35, 27, and 25 BC, and, in 40 AD, Caligula assembled an army of 200,000 men at the English Channel, only to have them gather seashells rather than invade Britain. In 43 AD, Emperor Claudius ordered four Roman legions to invade Britain, and they defeated the Catuvellauni and created a new province. The Romans steadily expanded northward after defeating the Iceni revolt, and Gnaeus Julius Agricola expanded Roman rule as far as Caledonia by 84 AD. The forty-year conquest of Britain left 250,000 Britons dead, and emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius built two walls to defend the province from the Caledonians. In 197 AD, Roman Britain was divided into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. Britannia, distant from Rome, was often subjected to barbarian invasions or usurpations by imperial pretenders, and, in 410 AD, the Romans abandoned Britain as the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons invaded, leaving behind the Romano-British cultures.